Two trees down, house still standing

TREES FELLED: The two willow trees lying side by side after being knocked over in high winds yesterday evening.

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A group of Auckland housemates were counting their lucky stars last night after a 15-metre-tall willow tree came crashing down in their backyard, taking out another tree instead of their house.

Sioux Phoenix, 26, along with her partner and flatmate, was watching from the window of her house on Somerset Rd in Mt Roskill when high winds managed to knock the tree over about 7pm last night.

"We were so lucky it fell in the opposite direction as our house or we would be squished," Phoenix said.

"We were standing watching it and a big gust of wind came along and lifted the tree about a foot. Then another gust came along and lifted it again, this time though it didn't come back."

When falling, the tree managed to take-out another smaller willow tree, coming to rest half in the property's creek and half against a cherry tree.

It's left the housemates with a "huge clean up job" on their hands and some flooding concerns. With the tree currently resting across their creek, they fear more heavy rainfall could lead to the house being flooded.

"We don't know how long the clean-up will take as we are waiting for the landlord to come over. If there was more heavy rain it would cause a flood," Phoenix added.

And getting the right equipment in place to remove the tree will prove no easy task either.

"The (tree) has landed next to Mt Roskill Grammar and we can't get any machinery into our yard as we are surrounded by waterways and only have a foot bridge to access our property.

"The school is not going to be happy as we will have to clean up on their side of the creek and school starts again Monday."